The Hardest Thing You'll Ever Learn
by georgethecunt
Summary: Edited. Intro v different to following chapters. Remus and Eliza are best friends and complete opposites. Emma, Remus' girlfriend, loathes Eliza. Remus hates every romantic decision that Eliza makes. What is obvious to everyone else is not obvious to them and in the tangled web of arguments that the year brings to them, will they ever learn life's hardest lesson?
1. Here I am, a Rabbit Hearted Girl

The Hardest Thing You'll Ever Learn

a/n: I haven't uploaded any of the stories I've written in ages. They're all on my old account. Which I left in the end. I've been reading and reading for a long time and I've finally settled on a storyline that I'm happy with. It's not a masterpiece, but I don't intend it to be. It's based on my life. So… Don't be tooooo judgemental. enjoy, my lovelys. Olivia.

Edited. Chapter One is essentially an Intro

**The chapters following this will not be written in the style that this chapter is written in.**

Summary: 

Remus rarely loses his temper but when he does, he loses it with Eliza. The bickering, laughing, whining and flirting is obvious to all but the two of them, often leaving them confused and hurt. The hardest thing that they will ever learn is just to love, and to be loved in return.

(bad summary) JPxLE SBxOC RLxOC LMxOC MMxOC

_Chapter 1_

Shuddering and gasping, he paused in the shadow of an oak tree, trying and failing to catch his breath. His nose twitched as scent upon scent caught his attention, a scintillating array of animals.

Which to chase?

The blood across his muzzle smelt sweet and metallic and his nose twitched as he tried again to catch the scent of the next worthless animal which would fall prey to him.

The moon was falling silvery through the trees, but the darkness reigned supreme. The leaves and mud and trees merged together in varying degrees of total blackness.

Semi-blind he relied on his senses to get him by. The sounds of life sounded all around him; the rustles and shuffling of those who don't want to be heard.

His ears pricked. The low thudding beat of a heart was pulsing nearby.

As silently as he could, he skulked through the trees, senses on high alert. Emotionless, the beast moved forwards and as he did so he caught sight of a human; a defenceless human, standing in the clearing, moving towards the trees opposite him. A low sound rumbled through him like a throaty chuckle, but as the human walked into the darkness the low sound became a growl and he padded forwards. The moonlight through the trees glistened on his fur, its blueish glow lingering on his fur. He moved forwards silently, following the human into the darkness. His sharp eye sight picked it out again immediately and he followed it at a distance, waiting for his chance to strike.

Suddenly, the human stopped. It had bent down to its feet. He didn't know or care what it might be doing. His time had come.

With an almighty growl he leapt forwards, stalking around the girl as he spat and hissed and moved closer and closer, even though as he did so he felt a wrench of some feeling in his gut. He didn't know what it was, that wrench of feeling that twisted like a knife in his stomach, but nevertheless, his senses overrode it and he pounced.

The human lay on the floor now. He saw a glimmer of something in its shining eyes.

Was it fear? He hoped it was fear.

It had pulled out a stick and was saying something.

Repeating a word over and over again.

The same word.

The word made his hair stand on end, although he didn't understand it. He howled. It had put its stick away. Stupid creature.

He moved forwards so that he stood over it, his breath blowing into its face, making its hair shuffle back and forth.

He paused. That wrench in his stomach again. It was as if…

Then it said the word again.

With an echoing snarl of frustration, he swiped his gnarled paw at the human. He saw its blood on his claws, and felt satisfaction. He swung again and again.

Its face was covered in thick red blood, now, and the smell of it pulsed through him, his heart rate quickening as he moaned and opened his jaws wide.

He licked at the blood, digging his claws deeper and deeper as the pleasure flooded him. He sat back on his haunches and howled.

With a thirsty grunt he swung forwards again, lunging in for the kill but there was a sudden cracking noise.

It was loud.

It startled him.

The human was gone.

Gone.

Fury flooded him.

But suddenly, he caught the scent of blood. Animal blood… Deer perhaps? With a snarl, he turned and charged off through the undergrowth, leaving nothing behind him.

Nothing but blood soaked ground and the human's cloak.

_Meanwhile._

A girl staggered as she apparated to the steps of St Mungo's. A nurse standing outside having a cigarette gasped and came charging down the steps towards her. The girl collapsed into the nurse's arms, blood seeping from her. The nurse began to shout for help; a man rushed up and together the nurse and the man carried the girl into the hospital. More nurses rushed over with a stretcher.

The nurse shouted orders as the girl was levitated to the emergency room.

Loss of blood.

Broken bones.

Skelegrow.

Animal attack.

Permanent scarring.

Contact her family.

Who is this girl?

Does anyone know this girl?

But the girl's face is so torn it is unrecognisable and her body is quickly shutting down. One of the nurses shakes her head. Another bites his lip. The air is full of tension, as internally the nurses and healers seem to be giving up.

Is there anything they can do?

She is so nearly gone.

There is a bang as the head healer runs in, with bottles and cloths, and as he waves his wand the wounds begin to close. He dabs at her injuries with cloths dowsed in the liquid from the bottles and indicates the nurses to do the same.

The nurses look confused, but comply with his orders.

He waves away their questions; barking out instructions, requests for materials.

It is chaos, as healers charge around the room, mending her, fixing her, sewing her back together.

As her face reforms, the head healer sighs.

"This was no animal attack." He slumps into a chair next to her and buries his head in his hands.

"Check her for bites."

_A month later_

Remus groaned as he came around. His mother pressed a compress to his head and smiled down at him, sadness etched into her face and echoing in her deep blue eyes. The white ceiling above hims is grubby, the dingy air of the basement clammy on his aching skin.

"It wasn't so bad this time, Remus."

He jolts at the sound of his mother's voice and in the heavy silence.

He takes a peek at his body. It seems that his mother's right. The criss-cross of wounds doesn't seem very new or deep.

Not that many new scars today.

He lies in silence for a minute, his eyes closed, every inch of him racked with pain. His lip is split and he licks at it, sighing. He tries to think back to last night. What happened? As per usual, he remembers nothing amazing, just blurs and rushes of smell and sound. Same as always, same as last month, same as every time he is at home, all he can remember is the look of the trees.

The taste of the blood.

He shudders and looks up at his mother, "Well, that's something at least, eh?" He smiles his crooked smile at his mother, and her face relaxes a little, "Not many new scars."

"Does it hurt an awful lot, honey?" She murmurs as he flinches under her light touch.

Remus shakes his head and grasps her hand, "Thank you."

"It's never a problem." She places the compress on the table next to him and clutches his hand. She turns to his father, who lies sleeping in an armchair next to them, his head lolling on his chest. "He wants to say goodbye. He won't be home tonight, so he won't see you before the Express leaves."

Remus nods, and leans over to prod his dad. "Oi, sleepy."

His dad jerks awake and when he sees that Remus is awake he grins, albeit a sad and haunted grin.

"How goes it?" His dad moves to stand by the bed and hold his hand, "Was it a bad one?"

"Not so bad. I must've found something to hunt." Remus avoids his Dad's eye. He hates to talk about it so casually, as if it is totally normal.

His Dad laughs lightly. "Some defenceless rabbit I hope?"

Remus shrugs and stares at the floor, "I never remember, you know that."


	2. Welcome

The Hardest Thing You'll Ever Learn

a/n: Edited. Olivia.

Summary:

JPxLE SBxOC RLxOC LMxOC MMxOC

_Chapter 2_

_Welcome._

A tall girl with strawberry blonde, honey coloured hair was attempting to load her trunk onto the Hogwarts Express. She was trying to heave her trunk from the trolley to the ground when she heard her name being called.

"Eliza!"

She whipped around, her big brown eyes searching the crowd as a bush of thick dark brown curls attacked her from the side, gripping her into an impossibly tight hug. She twisted and peered through the curls to see her friends, Lily and Molly who were standing behind the curly attacker, awaiting their own welcome back greetings. She chuckled, "Hey there Marly!"

The curls pulled back and grinned. "How was summ… errr… honey, what did you do to your face?"

Eliza laughed wrinkling her nose as she remembered that no one had seen the scars yet, "It's nothing Marlene. I was out with girls from my town and got totally smashed- woke up the next day like this. Who knows what happened! My mum threw the _biggest_ fit." She grinned nonchalantly as Marlene stood staring at her scars, disbelieving.

Eliza stepped around her and noted the fleeting grimaces of shock that graced Molly and Lily's faces before they stifled their surprise and smiled excitedly. She cursed inwardly, knowing the holes in her story were too big but shrugging it off.

Molly reached out and snubbed Eliza's nose, "Long time no see, chick." Eliza looked into Molly's blue eyes and grinned. "Too long!"

Eliza grinned and embraced Lily, kissing her cheek. "You alright, ginge?"

Lily wrinkled her perfect nose and pushed her, "Shut up Eliza! Don't tease me within seconds!"

Eliza laughed happily and tucked her long wavy hair behind her ears.

"Come on, let's go find a compartment!" and with that, she leapt onto the train, leaving her trunk for someone stronger to lift onto the train.

_Meanwhile._

Remus was late. He was _always_ late for the train.

He charged through the wall, his abrupt disappearance leaving at least five completely baffled muggles, who stood stock still staring at the wall in bemused shock. The first thing he spotted was James Potter, who was standing on his trunk, peering through the smoke, seemingly trying to locate his friends.

Remus grinned, making an internal bet with himself that James was undoubtedly looking for Lily, as opposed to himself or Sirius.

Skirting around and between clustered families and groups of teenagers all shouting their hellos and welcome backs, he approached James.

As silent as possible, he crept up behind James and pushed him off his trunk. James fell with a shout but when he saw who it was, leapt up, turned around and jumped on Remus with what sounded distinctly like a battle cry.

"Remmyyyyy!"

"geroffmejams" Remus gasped, all the air knocked from his lungs. He laughed but it sounded more like he was choking and shoved James off him onto the dusty ground, rolling over and scrambling up.

James straightened up too and grinned, "Sorry Remus, old buddy, old friend. How goes it? Good summer? Any new scars?" James looked taller than he had before but he was no different other than that, an arrogant and teasing grin plastered across his face, a twinkle sparkling in his eyes behind his glasses. He was more defined and seemed to have grown into himself over the summer, becoming even handsomer than he'd been, and therefore more arrogant.

Remus shook his head, his longish hair falling in front of his eyes. "Nope, I must've been preoccupied because I barely hurt myself at all, either full moon."

James grinned, "Brilliant. I think Sirius is in the train, shall we?" He gestured through the throngs of people to the train. "We can leave our trunks here."

Remus nodded and flicked at his fringe, "Yeah sure, let's go. I'd like to find Eliza as well. She was meant to visit me but never did and stopped writing halfway through summer." He scratched his nose nervously, "I don't know what happened."

James laughed loudly and Remus sighed, averting his eyes to the nearest distraction. He could kick himself, what a sappy thing to say. Merlin, James wasn't gonna let this one go. James was already blathering on, "Ohhhh, did you miss her? Do you wish she had been with you to keep you warm on those long lonely nights?" James waggled his eyebrows as Remus looked back at him disinterest plastered across his face.

"Sorry, were you saying something James?"

James grinned even more broadly and nodded, "Just discussing your love for Eliza with my inner demons."

Remus punched his arm as hard as he physically could, which in honesty wasn't that hard, "Piss off."

"Feeling feisty are we, Moony?" A voice from the train floated over to them.

Remus whipped around, "Sirius!"

Sirius eyes' twinkled with mischief as he flashed the grin that had won the heart of almost every girl in Hogwarts. "Yes, I am entirely serious, are you feeling feisty?"

Remus groaned, as did James, although a group of passing girls let out tinkling laughs as they shimmied past Sirius onto the train.

"Not this Sirius-serious shit again," Remus groaned, as James made the fatal mistake of saying, "I mean, ugh, seriously?" at which Sirius grinned even wider.

"Sirius-ly."

_HALF WAY TO HOGWARTS_

A tap on the door made the girls jump; who dared to interrupt their gossip session?

Marlene groaned, "But I wanna know if you saw his c-"

There was another rap on the door and a voice called, "Erm, Eliza?"

Looking up they stifled their giggles, "Shhhh, shhhh" they hissed at each other, straightening themselves out as Marlene slid open the door.

Remus stepped in, shooting a wonky grin at them all which faded to an aghast look of shock as his eyes fell on Eliza.

Eliza rolled her eyes. "Merlin, the reactions I'm getting are ridiculous. They'll have faded in a week, the potions I'm taking just haven't run their course yet. The scars will go!"

"Er, yeah, I was just umm… Surprised how much mess you guys had made already…" Now he came to think of it, he was actually surprised how much mess they had made. Books, magazines and sweet wrappers littered the seat and Molly was lying on the floor between the seats with the other girls' feet resting on her. Eliza followed his gaze and laughed, "Don't mind Molly, she likes being on the floor."

"Um, right…" He wrinkled his nose, his voice quiet as all the girls eyes remained on him. He was sure he was blushing. Why did he hate attention so much? "Well, erm, seeing as you mentioned them… Wh-what… what caused them? The scars…" Remus ran a shaky hand through his dirty blonde hair and wrinkled his nose. "Is this why you, umm… you know. Stopped replying to my letters?" At this his voice reached a volume so quiet that had the girls not already been straining slightly to hear him over the noise of the train already, they would_never_ have heard.

The girls all nudged each other and winked. Molly started quietly humming All You Need Is Love, as Eliza replied, "Yes, that's why. Shall we go for a walk?"

She stood up, purposefully stepping hard on Molly's arm. "Get away from this bloody racket, eh?"

She rolled her eyes at the surrounding girls and Remus nodded. As Eliza slid the compartment door shut behind them she heard Marlene whispering, "Loooove letteeers…" and the distinct sound of Molly bursting into song.

She turned to Remus with a smile playing about her lips. "Hey Rem, I missed you."

Embracing their silence and solitude, he seemed to find his voice, as he always did around Eliza. Pulling her into a one-armed hug he smiled, "I missed you too. What was I supposed to do without my resident agony aunt?"

She chuckled, a throaty chuckle, and grabbed his arm.

"Can we go down to the back and sneak a cigarette?"

He frowned disapprovingly and she grimaced, "G'waaaarn please!"

Rolling his eyes, Remus allowed her to drag him along, past the many full and noisy compartments down past the toilet to the small, abandoned section of the train, located between the compartments and the luggage carriage.

She dropped his wrist as they reached the spot and moved to open the window. It slid up easily and she stuck her head out. The train was going fast now and she laughed as the wind hit her face, whipping her laughter away on the wind. She pulled her head back through, her hair ruffled and falling in her eyes. She grinned and pulled a packet of cigarettes from her pocket.

"Don't suppose you've changed your mind and lost your hatred for my 'deathsticks', hmm?"

He rolled his eyes, lolling against the wall as she pulled a little pink lighter from her wand. He couldn't help but to disapprove. He knew how much they affected her health- he'd heard her coughing. He'd never asked her outright to give them up because he knew she'd do it for him, if he asked but he felt as if it'd be wrong to do so- why should he dictate how she lived her life.

Once she had lit up and was happy with her first few drags and early morning cigarette head rush, he dared to bring up the subject that had been playing on his mind all day. Eliza was staring out of the window, watching the scenery whizz past her eyes, a dreamy faraway look on her face.

"So, erm… I haven't seen Emma?" The second the words were out of his mouth he almost wished he could pull them back in, but too late. He sighed quietly, as she came out of her reverie, her shoulders stiffening; she hated Emma, hated the way Remus and Emma fought so constantly and yet how quiet Emma seemed to be to everyone else; but when she turned to face him she was beaming, a dazzling smile that lit up her face, "Oh, no? That's a shame. What's going on with you two at the moment then?" Her voice was laced with cheer and half-hearted interest, but he knew that internally she was probably just wishing Emma didn't exist. Emma was incessantly jealous of Eliza and his friendship, and last year she'd made her dislike for Eliza plain- this had not helped matters as Eliza had hated Emma since two weeks into Emma and Remus' relationship when something Emma had said to him had reduced him to tears.

He shrugged, "Nothing much, I just-'' He stopped abruptly. "Wait, you haven't really told me about your scars. When did they happen?"

She shrugged and stuck out her tongue, it's stud glittering in the streams of light from the window, the fake look of interest falling from her face, "Shut up Remus, they aren't scars they're scratches- they lasted cos of the spell and the time they were left for before treatment. It's no big deal, jheez. "

"They were caused by a spell, hmm?" He pushed himself off the wall and came over to the window, leaning against it and looking straight into her eyes. The wind rushing by was exhilarating, ruffling his hair and making his eyes water. He turned away from her as she replied.

"I hear the scepticism, mister. Yes, a spell. I was drunk, you know how I get, now drop it. Tell me about Emma."

"You want to hear about Emma? That's not like you…"

She groaned, "Jesus man you are never happy! When I don't care, you moan, when I do care, you don't believe me."

"Well, I just…" He ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his nose, "I mean, I think she may have gone off me. I dunno if she likes me anymore.""

Eliza laughed and poked his cheek, "Who does?"

"What?"

"No one likes you." She threw him her half grin, the one that made his stomach warm up, and turned away to the window again, dragging on her cigarette. How he ended up friends with a girl like Eliza he would never know.

"Shut up, bitch."

"Whatever, whore."

"Takes one to know one." He winked at her, feeling distinctly like Sirius.

She grinned and dragged on her cigarette. Laughing quietly at his wink, she turned back to him.

"You want me and you know it."

Dodging the poke he aimed at her ribs, she chucked her cigarette end through the window and sauntered back off down the train. Remus grinned and watched her go. A few metres down, she turned and called back, with an evil shimmer in her eyes, "Sorry Lupin, I just don't love you back."

The compartments around them chuckled and Remus rolled his eyes as his cheeks burned a brilliant red. Typical. He could hear the laughter from all round him and seriously contemplated throwing himself from the open window. With an inward groan of resignation he set off towards his compartment ignoring the whispers and laughing going on around him, as the cogs of the Hogwarts rumour mill began to churn.


	3. Heat

_A/N: Okay, so I'm not particularly happy with the first two chapters but hopefully things are going to pick up as i fall into the flow of the story.__**I have edited the first few chapters**__. I got a few alerts and a lot of readers but no reviews, I know it's only been up since last night but I really would love some constructive criticisms? It's dead, wooden, boring? It'll get better I promise. Love, Olivia._

**CHAPTER THREE**

The noise of the Great Hall and the chattering, giggling students was like music to his ears. Remus smiled crookedly at James, "Good to be back, isn't it?"

With a smile, James turned to Sirius and winking over dramatically, nudged him.

"Soooo, Sirius. Who's the lady of the moment, eh? Eh, eh?"

Sirius grinned but simply shrugged.

"Nah, it's no one mate. I'm giving up on women."

Remus dropped his fork with a clatter as Peter and James' over stuffed mouths fell open.

"You… what?"

Sirius threw his head back with a bark of laughter. "I'm joking you dolts! Fucking hell, me give up on women? Don't be ridiculous, I'm Hogwarts' resident Casanova."

Lily heard this, from her position a few seats down, and rolled her eyes, "Resident arsehole, surely?" As the girls laughed, she shook her head with a smirk, "Isn't one of your ex-conquests head girl this year? She'll give you hell, I'm sure."

Sirius blanched. "Er… which girl?"

Remus shrugged and turned to point at Emily Baker, a tall raven haired girl sitting down the table with Frank Longbottom. "Isn't it her?"

"Oh shit yeah, we did date!" He groaned and slammed his forehead to the table as James and  
>Peter cracked up unsympathetically. Remus just rolled his eyes.<p>

"Are there many girls in this room who that isn't true of, Sirius?"

They looked up as Eliza slid into the seat next to Remus, who gave her a puzzled look, "Where've you been?"

She grimaced, "Pomfreys. Anyway, is the grub good?"

As she began to pile her plate full of food, Remus leant over to her and in quiet undertones said, "You could've waited and gone with me. You know I always go and see her first day back. Was it about the scars?"

She rolled her eyes and sniffed, her angry sniff. Remus sighed, "Look, don't be pissy, okay? You're not telling me the full story about those scars and I want to know."

"Well you never told me the full story of yours either, I had to guess so don't even try and make me feel bad." She hissed in his face. Nose to nose she glared at him, but he looked back at her impassively before shrugging.

"Fine, whatever, don't tell me."

He turned back to his food and picked at the chicken on his plate, his appetite gone. He could feel her gaze on the side of his face and caught the eye of Sirius who raised an eyebrow and mouthed the word, 'already' at Remus and rolled his dark eyes.

She sighed, and leant her head on his shoulder. She felt him shifting, though whether to knock her off or make her more comfortable she wasn't sure.

"Let's not argue, Rem, not first day back, okay?"

He sighed and let his wall of steely indifference drop.

"Yeah, you're right. God, we're so stupid." He smiled, her favourite wonky grin, and peered down at her. "So, who's your 'ting' of the moment?" Calling a love interest a 'ting' was something that Eliza had picked up from her muggle friends and Remus had picked up from her, although he always said it as if it were a foreign word that he wasn't quite sure of the meaning of.

She smiled softly and wrinkled her nose, her light freckles disappearing as she did so.

"I dunno, I was thinking about L-"

"Remus, can I talk to you?" A cold, strained voice sounded from behind them and Remus twisted around abruptly, Elizas head slipping off his shoulder as he stood up quickly, "Um, Emma, hey, yeah sure shall we, urm… Outside?" His voice was quiet and nervous as he gestured to the doors and she nodded, leading the two of them away from the table and out into the entrance hall.

Sirius reached across the table and brushed the hair from Elizas face. "Don't be sad, Liza-lou. He didn't mean to brush you off like that."

She nodded and looked up a plastic smile on her face. "So, guys. What pranks are we planning, hmm?"

At the word pranks all of the girls' ears pricked up and they leant in, all talking at once.

"There will be _no_ pranks, thank you _very_ much!" Lily hissed, as Marlene grinned and cried, "Pranks- get innnnn." She nudged Molly who rolled her eyes drawling, "Pranks are so much work."

"Lighten _up_ Evans." Sirius frowned, lazily raising an eyebrow, "Merlin, you are so uptight."

"Yes and you're a prick but I don't go on about it do I."

"You do actually…"

The group laughed as James sighed, "You look pretty when you're angry, Lil."

"Piss off, Potter."

"Okay." Sirius barked a laugh, "Whipped, he's so whipped!"

She folded her arms. "I mean it, Potter. This year, I want you to leave me the hell alone." Her green eyes flashed catching his brown eyes. She was startled to see how sad they seemed to look but his face was still fixed with that arrogant grin, so she supposed she was imagining it.

He nodded and shrugged, "Okay."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, before grabbing Molly by the arm and sliding up the bench with her, until they were out of earshot. Molly shot them an exasperated look and turned to Lily, bracing herself for the anti-James onslaught.

Eliza rolled her eyes and turned back to the boys, "So?"

James and Sirius leaned in conspiratorially. "Well…"

_In the Entrance Hall_

Remus had barely stepped outside when Emma rounded on him.

"All that _bullshit_ Remus, all that shit you were writing to me about not liking her and not wanting her instead of me and then minutes into the term and you've got her all snuggled up to you like some cosy little couple and you _actually_ expect me to believe that you care about me!"

Her eyes were sparkling with fury.

For some reason he found himself looking at her hair and thinking how much he disliked it.

He jolted out of his momentary lapse of concentration and sighed, "If I've told you once, I've told you a _thousand times_, Emma. Eliza is very important to me! She's my closest friend and we just had an argument, she leant her head on my shoulder to tell me she was sorry. You know we fight all the time."

"Urgh, yeah, _fighting_, if that's what you call it! Incessant _fucking_ bickering! She wants your attention _all_ the time, she wants you to be all hers even though she goes around with a different guy _every fucking day!"_

Remus' face hardened at the insinuationg of the words and he stepped forwards, placing a hand on Emma's forearm. "Look, you're important to me, okay? But _don't_ talk about her like that; you know I won't have it." He said this quietly.

She pulled her arm away and turned her back on him. With a frustrated sound , she hissed, "Oh, every time Remus. You _care_, I'm _important_ to you, you want to _be_ with me. Have you ever said that you even _like_ me aloud? _No_. Seven months and you're no closer to saying 'I love you' to me than you are to Severus _fucking_ Snape."

The silence that hung between them was heavy and full of unspoken truths. Neither of them voiced them though.

She simply whipped around and stalked up to him.

She prodded him in the chest, "Look, either you tell her to back the fuck off, or we're over, alright?" she pushed him away from her and walked back towards the door. One hand on the handle, she turned back, "I'm not waiting around for you anymore Remus. Me or her."

As she turned away, he sighed and called after her, "But why do that? Why make me make a choice that you know won't favour you?" His voice was soft but it carried in the silent and cavernous Entrance Hall. His insides were churning at the implications of what he'd just said, said without thinking, without considering it. But he was right, he could never give up Eliza. She was more than a friend, she was an addiction.

Emma turned around anger, disappointment and shock etched into her face.

"Excuse me?"

She was reaching for her wand when James stuck his head around the door, his eyebrows raising into his fringe as he surveyed the scene. "Err, Remus, we thought you'd wanna know that puddings ready…"

Emma stuffed her wand away and stalked back into the Great Hall. Remus groaned and turned around his anger finally filling him up. He threw a punch at the wall, catching his breath as the fragile skin of his knuckles broke and began to spill blood. James looked astounded and dashed back into the hall.

As Remus sat and watched the cracks in his knuckles and the dribbles of blood, thoughts raced through his head.

Why was Emma so paranoid? Always? The bloody girl didn't realise what a big thing it was for him that they'd managed to drag it out for seven months. Admittedly he'd thought it was only five months, but whatever. Either way it was a personal record for him. Although it had definitely been dragged out. And they'd split up multiple times. And she drove him mental. And she never made him laugh, and… He sighed. Why was he even with her? He'd forgotten.

A soft hand on his shoulder and a wand being pointed at his broken knuckles, made him look up as Eliza flopped down next to him. The cuts on his hand disappeared as she sighed heavily, propping herself up against the marble banisters, her hair falling over her face as she studied his hands.

"God you two are such fucking idiots", she said in a long exhale as she surveyed his face, saw the sadness etched into it. "I mean seriously, we hadn't even had pudding and you're out here having a slanging match."

She set his hand down again on his lap and fixed her eyes on a spot on the floor.

"She whining 'bout me again?" Her voice was quiet this time, and strained.

He nodded, and sighed.

She wasn't looking at him but took the sigh as confirmation and shrugged.

"I always did say she was a paranoid bitch. You over?"

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

She laughed softly and glanced at him. "Well, what does she want you to do?"

He shook his head, "Never mind that."

She rolled her eyes, "I do mind, so tell me." When he said nothing she groaned, "She isn't even nice. She doesn't even notice that you're gone every full moon. She's a bitch. She mucks you around. And she's suspiciously close to that Joe."

He said nothing, he just sat and looked at her hands; every finger but one bore a ring of varying colours and sizes. Jewellery was her thing. "I bought you a present, over summer."

"Oh?"

He rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a ring. It was thin and rounded and made of a translucent blue-white stone which shone lightly against the skin. He glanced up at her, "It reminded me of the moon, so I thought it would remind you of me."

He pointed, "It should fit your empty finger?"

She grinned and plucked it from him, sliding it on. "It's meant to be bad luck to wear a ring on your wedding ring finger you know." She slid a silver ring from her thumb and the moon ring from her ring finger, exchanged their places and smiled up at him. "Wearing it on my thumb is innocent; Emma can't judge that, right?"

He laughed softly, "Who cares?"

"Come on Remus, what does she want you to do? Don't think I didn't notice how closed off you got when I asked."

A look of embarrassment and nervousness flitted across his face.

"Honestly, you don't need to worry."

She huffed and stood up abruptly, "Alright."

She walked to the door, "Come on Rem, let's get pudding."

He nodded and followed her into the hall, wondering how long he could delay telling her.


	4. Don't Lie to Me

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Author's note: Basically, this is edited. -O

"_I'm not calling you a liar but don't lie to me."_

_Florence and the Machine_

They hadn't even reached the top of the stairs before Eliza began to tease, "So Potter's finally going to leave you alone, huh? Like that will happen! You loveee him, you love Jameees!"

Lily punched her jokingly, rolling her eyes and raising an eyebrow as they approached the Gryffindor Common Room where their friends awaited them, "Well you and Remus were nicely snuggled up before Evil Emma came along, so I dunno why you think you're the one to be teasing, mate."

Eliza rolled her eyes exasperatedly and pushed Lily sideways as she addressed the Fat Lady, "Metamorphagus."

Giggling as Lily staggered sideways and landed against the wall, Eliza clambered through the portrait hole clumsily, anticipating the retaliation Lily was about to unleash on her. She staggered, nearly losing her footing as she tried to scramble up and away from Lily. But a strong hand stopped her from falling. She looked up and smirked at the sight. It was Daniel Wood; seventh years' resident Adonis. She grinned flirtily at him, "Strong man, eh?" With a chuckle she sauntered off towards the marauders, Lily trailing behind her somewhat reluctantly, annoyed that her revenge would have to be postponed.

Daniel's eyes followed Eliza across the room, not leaving her until she had flopped herself onto the sofa around which the boys were clustered. Folding her long legs up under her, she nestled down into the sofa, leaning her head on the high arm of the sofa. The common room was quite busy, the faint chatter of friends who have missed each other, and have a lot to catch up on, filling the room. Sirius was sitting next to Eliza, his back against the side of the sofa and his legs stretched the length of it, resting next to Eliza's hip. Lily was sitting in the armchair next to Remus' and Peter was on the floor. James was sitting on a pouf, his eyes scanning the room.

Just as Eliza settled into her seat, Marlene and Molly came down from the dormitory and sat on the floor by Peter, where they continued to gossip, as they had been doing all day, shooting furtive looks around the common room.

Lily, meanwhile, was repeatedly glancing at James, who in turn was shooting barely concealed stares at Sophie Henshaw, a girl in fifth year who was the object of many boys' affections.

Lily scoffed and crossed her legs, "Yeah James, think again. There is _no_ way Henshaw will go for you."

Peter shuffled, hugging his knees to his chest, and muttered, "She seems to be looking back, though."

Sirius scoffed, looking at Lily with interest in his eyes. He leant over to her and grinned, that winning grin that could knock the breath out of a girl.

"Why were you watching James anyway? You jealous he's not eyeing you up?"

Lily rolled her eyes and sneered, before standing abruptly and going to sit with Marlene and Molly, joining in their gossiping (or bitching) session immediately.

Eliza smiled to herself, lost in thought, feeling Daniel Wood's eyes on her. For a good five minutes she sat like that, staring into the fire and barely listening to the sounds of the Common Room or the idle bickering and chatting of her friends, just appreciating the feel of Daniel's eyes on the side of her face. After a while, Remus leaned over to her from where he was sitting in an armchair to her right, reading a heavy, boring looking book. "What you smiling at Liza-Lou?"

Before she could reply, Sirius suddenly emerged from behind the sofa in an army crawl. At Eliza's feet he stood up and flopped down onto her lap dramatically. She groaned as all the air was forced out of her.

"Sirius, how many times, you have a bony arse!"

"Err, Sirius, what were you doing on the floor?" Remus had a laughing twinkle in his eyes, as he watched Sirius attempting to make himself comfortable on Eliza's lap, which was much to her consternation.

"Sneaking up on Eliza." He turned away, ignoring their amused looks.

"Hey, Molly. You look beautiful today," he winked and beckoned for her to come over and talk to him. She gave him a long and lazy look up and down before shrugging and turning back to the girls.

Sirius groaned, "What is it with that girl!" He launched into a rant about girls who manage to resist his charms and what should be done with them, whilst James and Peter pretended to listen and nodded sympathetically.

Remus leant behind Sirius and raised an eyebrow, "Comfy?"

She glared at him and aimed a kick his way but this sudden movement caused Sirius to wriggle therefore causing her pain.

"_Ouch_! Jesus, he _cannot_ be serious."

Sirius turned to her, "I am in fact, completely and _utterly_ Sirius." Laughing heartily to himself he turned back to the boys and continued to rant. Eliza rolled her eyes, "Oh not that again!"

Remus laughed and asked her, "So, who's your ting, then? Hmm?" His voice was light but he felt an odd sense of dread.

She grinned, "Oh, I'm really not feeling the 'boy' situation at the moment. There are simply no good looking guys out there with even half a brain cell to rub together."

"Oh great, so I'm ugly!"

"No, you're stupid."

He grinned at the implied compliment, flushing slightly. "By the way, what did you do to your hair?"

She laughed, "What?"

"Well it seemed… different. Like not quite curly… But not straight."

"…Yes, Remus, it's called wavy hair and it is exactly the same as I have always had." She looked distinctly amused, her eyes twinkling and the fire light dancing across her features.

"Well, it's pretty." The words were out before he'd given them a second a thought and he was surprised that he didn't regret them.

"Umm, thanks." She raised an eyebrow at him, unfazed by the turn their conversation seemed to have taken.

"I don't like curly hair." He sighed and looked away, his gaze settling on the fire which was roaring in the ornate fireplace, "Wavy is much nicer."

She wrinkled her nose and laughed lazily, "_Emma_ has curly hair."

He laughed awkwardly and scratched his neck, "Oh, so she does." He glanced at her, almost nervously but she just rolled her eyes at him and shook her head briefly before turning away to watch Just as he was thinking to himself how much he had missed this, the warmth she brought wherever she was and the way she made him feel at ease in a way even Sirius and James couldn't, when he heard Marlene call from the stairs, "Eliza, we're going to bed, you coming?"

Eliza jolted out of their conversation and smiled at Marlene, "Yeah, I'll be up in a second Marley. Sirius, get _off_."

She shoved him hard, his attention elsewhere as he was deep in conversation with James about frog flavoured ice cream. He landed in a crumple on James' feet, head butting Peter's knee on the way down.

"Fucking _hell_, Eliza!" He looked at her angrily, but Remus could see something else in his eyes when Sirius looked at Eliza, other than anger. He pondered it for a second and then brushed it off.

She grinned and skipped off quickly but as she reached the stairs, Remus caught up with her. Taking a deep breath, he grasped her wrist, voicing something that had been worrying him all day now.

"Look, Eliza, listen. I know you're not telling me the full story with this scar thing. They are so not a drunken mistake and the others might be swallowing your bullshit, but I know you too well for that. What's going on?"

She grimaced, turning to face him, a steely glint flashing in her brown eyes as she stared him down.

"Look, it's nothing Remus, so just _drop_ it, okay?" Her tone was dangerous, warning him against pushing the matter but he ignored it.

"Eliza, please-" But she cut him off before he could finish, her tone icy, her eyes blazing.

"Seriously, Remus! Why must we argue on the first day?" She stepped back down off the stairs so that she was in front of him, staring straight into his eyes. "Are you _determined_ that we should be giving each other the cold shoulder for the first week? For _fucks_ sake, just keep your nose out of my business!"

He stepped back and crossed his arms tightly, anger and steel set into every line of his face as she stared at him furiously.

"Oh, so now _I'm_ in the wrong for caring, well isn't that fucking typical," he spat, his voice growing louder and colder with every word.

She rolled her eyes, "I don't need this."

He darted forwards and blocked her way, his tone dropping that note of anger and becoming soft and caring, "Please tell me, Eliza? Please."

He saw sympathy flash in her eyes only to be quickly replaced with defiance.

"Think back to first year Remus, we all went along with your atrocious lies back then so just run with mine now okay, you wanted privacy and I want mine too so let's just leave our scar stories as they are and not judge, yeah?"

He pursed his lips in worry, "What are you saying? Is this as serious as… you haven't been bitten?"

She muttered something under her breath and pushed him out of the way.

"What did you say?" He must've misheard.

She practically growled at him as she tried to get past him, but however much stronger Sirius might be than him, Remus was not weak amd wouldn't budge."Remus I am going to bed!"

He stepped aside but his voice was pleading, "No, wait, please tell me. I'll worry."

She rounded on him, the defiant glint shimmering in her eyes again.

"Tell me what Emma wants you to do. Then I'll tell you what you want to know."

He groaned and stared out of the window at the cloudy sky.

Eliza's laugh was mocking as she looked at his reaction, "Look, what a fucking surprise. It's all 'let's be open and honest, let's tell each other everything'- until I want you to tell me something." She sighed heavily. "It's a joke." She was walking away when Remus finally gathered the courage to choke out quietly, "Eliza." She turned and looked at him with one slightly raised eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"She… Um, well… She doesn't want me to speak to you anymore, says it's you or her. I have to choose. Because I've never told her I loved her."

The words came out in a rushed breath, like sudden vomit. A filthy silence fell between them. He didn't dare look at Eliza's face for fear of what he would see, but when she said nothing, he looked up at her with trepidation.

The blank look that smothered Eliza's features; her eyes staring blankly at the wall, her lips pursed in shock and irritation, said everything that she did not, voiced all the anger, hurt and worry that she left unsaid as she whipped around and walked quickly up the stairs to her dormitory.

_In the girls dormitory._

The door flew open with a bang and Eliza stormed in, throwing open her trunk and searching through it. The other girls watched silently as she searched, cursing and muttering until she found the little box she had been looking for.

She was across the dormitory in a couple of strides and threw the window open, clambering onto the windowsill.

"Eliza, you _know_ that isn't safe!"

"Shut up Lily. Marlene do you want a smoke?" Eliza's voice was devoid of any emotion as she lit her cigarette with her wand. Marlene slipped out onto the ledge next to her and took the proffered cigarette. Together they smoked in silence, whilst Lily whined about the smell and Molly snored softly.

Just as Lily's whining began to quiet, Emma stormed in and climbed straight into bed fully dressed.

Eliza gave her the middle finger, "Meddling little bitch." She muttered for only Marlene to hear. Marlene leant a head against her shoulder, her curls tickling Eliza's cheek.

Eliza swung her legs back inside.

"So, Lily. Jealous that James likes Sophie Henshaw?" Eliza was joking but her face was blank and her eyes sad.

Lily responded by chucking a pillow at her so hard it nearly knocked her from the windowsill.

"Oh yeah, attempt to kill me Lily- slight over reaction!"

Lily grinned. "Sorry! Look, I'm knackered, so g'night my lovelies."

With that she drew her curtains. Marley climbed in silently and began to change into her pyjamas. "Avoiding the question?" She called to Lily, earning merely a scoff and silence as a response.

As Eliza changed she sighed, "I don't understand Remus at all, d'you know that Marlene?"

A catty voice floated over from around the corner, "That's because he isn't yours to understand, McFadden."

Marlene laughed and called out as she climbed into bed, winking at Eliza, "Shut the _fuck_ up, Emma."


	5. Out of my Hands

_Out of my reach, out of my hands_

_Milow_

_**A/N: I hope you're all enjoying this. It's getting loads of views but not enough reviews! At all. Hop to it guys and dolls. Love, O. x**_

"What did you and Remus fight about?" Sirius surveyed Eliza's haughty expression and the way she was determinedly not looking at Remus as he sat reading a book further down the table, Emma sitting opposite him.

She shrugged. "Nothing of importance."

Sirius laughed softly, "Don't give me that."

She shook her head quickly, "Leave it, Pads."

He sighed and nodded. He never would understand the relationship that Remus and Eliza had. How Remus could be so close to someone as beautiful as Eliza and not love her, he would never understand.

He pondered that Remus and Eliza were both pretty easy going as well, until it came to each other. The only other person Remus argued with is Emma and that bitch would argue with anyone. No one liked Emma. Even Remus didn't fucking like Emma.

He rolled his eyes and looked around him at his friends. The girls were gossiping again, minus Eliza who was making eyes at Daniel Worthington; something else Sirius would never understand. What was the attraction that Eliza saw in him? Bloody Worthington. He, Sirius, was far better than looking but Eliza never looked his way. Not that he wanted her to.

He turned to James. James was still looking at Henshaw but every few seconds his eyes would flick to Lily momentarily, to check that she was noticing that he was paying attention to Sophie, not her. Like Lily would care.

But, Sirius thought, shovelling bacon into his mouth, maybe Lily did care. She had noticed James looking at Henshaw. Why would she have noticed if she hadn't been looking at James? He pursed his lips, considering that possibility.

"What's on your mind, Sirius?" He heard Eliza asking, pulling him from the depths of his reverie.

"Oh, nothing, nothing of importance…" He laughed as she rolled her eyes, hearing her own words used against her.

"Whatever, Trevor." She grinned, piling her plate with hash browns and fried eggs. "I had missed these breakfasts!"

James suddenly grabbed her arm, "Quidditch captain, heading this way!"

Eliza sighed, "Oh god, early morning practices will truly ruin my life. Who's captain? Oh!"

The captain was a tall boy in the year above called Ben. He was easy going, funny and a good friend of Eliza's due to quidditch. Eliza couldn't have been more pleased- maybe they'd have less crack of dawn practices this year. She grinned at Ben and stood to embrace him. "Well done!"

He smiled, "Only for one year though. I'm happy though; imagine if James had got it!" He shuddered jokingly as James kicked him, grinning.

Soon, Eliza, James and Sirius were immersed in quidditch conversation with Ben. Peter sat next to them like a spare part and the girls sat heads together, whispering about the fact that Daniel Worthington's eyes had barely left Eliza all morning.

Remus looked up from his book, glancing towards Eliza. She looked lovely today, but her eyes were sad. He turned back to Emma, who glanced in the direction he had been looking, anger etched into her face. "Remus…"She warned.

"I'm not choosing." His voice was flat and devoid of emotion, as he switched his attention back to his book.

As Ben walked away, Peter piped up, eager to be included again.

"When's the next full moon?" He hissed.

All three of the boys turned to face Eliza; she always knew, whereas they never kept track of it over summer. She shrugged and said, in what she seemed to think was a nonchalant voice, "Oh, well I don't know because I can't come out on full moons this year." She continued eating as if she hadn't just dropped a huge bombshell on them. James looked sceptical, "'Liza, you can't stop coming out on full moons just because Emma doesn't want you near Remus."

She bristled. "Oh, of course he told _you_ guys." Rolling her eyes, she sighed. "It isn't that anyway, I just can't come."

James stared at her, his mouth set in a firm line. Sirius looked devastated and Peter seemed simply confused, which wasn't anything new.

James caught her chin, as she was avoiding his eyes and he stared at her, "Does Remus know?"

He spoke quietly and his tone was reserved but Eliza could feel his concern emanating in waves. She groaned. "No, I haven't found the time to tell him yet." James let go of her chin and swore under his breath, fiddling with his hair as he muttered to himself.

Sirius hit the table, leaning across it his features twisted in a grimace, "Remus doesn't _know_? You expect us to keep this from him? Are you _mad_?"

Her eyes flashed and she glared at him, her lips set in a line. "Yes, Sirius, I do. It's my job to tell him and I will- when the time is right." She glanced around them and rolled her eyes, "Calm down, Sirius, people are staring."

He relaxed his grip on the edge of the table fixed his usual look of slight amusement and total arrogance on his face and sat back.

"Tell him this week." His tone was dripping with anger and hurt.

Her eyes searched his face and then James', finding a look of hurt in James' eyes.

"Why are you hurt?" Her confusion was evident and Sirius was opening his mouth to explain when Peter said, "Worthington's staring at you Eliza."

They all looked at Peter. "What?"

"Worthington. He's staring at you."

She looked around and sure enough, there he was, averting his eyes the second he saw her look at him . For some reason he was sat at the Ravenclaw table. She shrugged and turned back to them smirking, "Huh, I have an admirer." She grinned, "A very beautiful admirer, at that."

Sirius sighed, "I bet you haven't told Remus that either?"

She wrinkled her nose, "Er, well that's not something he'd care about…so…"

James looked at Sirius pointedly, "_Exactly_, so shut _up_, Sirius."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "We've gone slightly off topic, no? When are you gonna tell R- hey! Eliza!"

But she was already scurrying off, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder.

Sirius was snoozing on his chest, Remus was curled up in an arm chair reading and Eliza and Marlene were sitting on bean bags, gossiping, whilst pretending to be reading tea leaves. The warmth and heady aroma of the divination classroom swirled around them as their Professor droned on and on about the impending doom facing one of their classmates.

Marlene glanced at the boys who weren't listening and whispered, "So, boys eh?" She waggled her eyebrows. Marlene was one of those girls who, despite looking entirely innocent with her wide eyes, pretty curls and soft musical voice; was actually a devil in disguise. Eliza grinned, "Daniel Worthington!" She sighed his name, clutching her chest in mock adoration, "He is just beautiful. His eyes! I would die to stare into those eyes."

Marlene laughed, "I don't understand! You could have any boy in the year and yet the one you've decided is beautiful…. Is not actually beautiful." She grinned, "What about Remus? He's gorgeous, too." She whispered the last part and they both darted glances towards him to check he hadn't heard. Thankfully, he was still staring at his book, his light hair falling into his amber eyes, his lips pursed. It was his jaw line, really that made him beautiful. That, and his immense sense of humility- he had no concept of how good looking he was or how many girls dreamed of him. Not that Eliza was one of them. She scoffed and turned back to Marlene, "Marly, he's hardly gorgeous, I mean, he's alright." She wrinkled her nose up, smirking.

Marlene shook her head furiously, "No! He is! And everyone is jealous of you- no one even believes he is dating Emma, they all think he's with you."

Eliza looked a little stunned at that news and made a face, "Er, does Daniel Worthington think that?"

Remus looked up suddenly- Eliza had said the last sentence too loudly and brought him out of his little book world. "Does Daniel Worthington think what?" He had noticed Worthington's wistful stares at Eliza and he couldn't say he was that keen. Worthington was better than some but… He couldn't envisage Eliza being happy with him.

Eliza grinned, "Think me and you are dating." She laughed as if that was a ridiculous idea, "Apparently everyone thinks you and Emma are a sham."

Remus sighed, rolling his eyes. "Fucks sake. That must be why she dislikes y- I mean, our friendship, so much."


	6. Keep Your Head Up

'_I spent my time watching the spaces that have grown between us and I cut my mind on second best or the scars that come with greenness'_

_**Chapter 6- Keep Your Head Up**_

**A/N: I know it's been ages since I updated this, but they should be more frequent now as my A Levels are over I couldn't remember whether I'd named Eliza's surname in the earlier chapters, so I recreated one in this chapter- if I've given her 2 different ones then let me know, but it'll remain Delaire from now on. The earlier chapters have been edited, so I'd say if you aren't a new reader then give them a quick once over, although no major plot points have changed. The way I've planned this story, it will be quite long so I'm going to try and update as much as possible although I have a very busy summer ahead. Thanks! Also stick with my interpretation of Lucius, the way I see it we have no information about when he started being a dick.- O**

The scent of bubbling cauldrons and dank walls that is the unique smell of potions lessons hit the students as they trooped down the stone steps towards the dungeons. Eliza was sauntering along arm in arm with Marlene, both of them laughing raucously at a lewd joke Sirius had just told. Remus had stormed off to class ahead, after he and Eliza had a brief and ridiculous disagreement at breakfast. James lead the way, pushing open the door of the potions classroom with a grimace, "God I hate this classroom" he groaned, slamming his bag down onto the desk.

Lily stalked in behind Marlene and Eliza, rolling her eyes. "Of course you do, because you're awful at Potions and Slughorn hates you." She slid behind a desk and shrugged, "Honestly James, you're so immature."

James shook his head and wandered off to talk to Remus, who was sitting alone by the wall of the dungeon, seemingly lost in thought. Eliza jumped onto the desk that Lily was sitting at and kicked her legs, whispering to Sirius, "Think I should go and talk to Remus about the full moon issue?"

Sirius sighed and nodded, "Yeah, he needs to know." She sighed and pulled a face. Sirius laughed and chucked her chin with his finger, "Go on, you can't be mad forever."

Marlene saw Eliza heading across the room towards Remus and smiled at her encouragingly. As she reached James and Remus, James jumped up and ran across the classroom to tackle Sirius, in a poorly veiled attempt at subtly giving Remus and Eliza their privacy. Remus stared at his hands which were crossed on the desk in front of him and nibbled at his lip.

Eliza sighed theatrically, "I'm still mad at you."

Remus laughed at this, the ridiculousness of their bickering at breakfast coming back to him. Looking up he saw that she was smirking and holding her hands out to him. He stood up and pulled her into a brief hug. Eliza couldn't help but feel that she'd hate being the one to initiate apologies much less if every time he hugged her he didn't glance around to check Emma wasn't watching. She shook her head, remembering her real reason for approaching him.

"Um, Remus there's actually something else I need to talk to you about."

He looked worried as he sat back down and gestured at the seat beside him, swivelling in his seat to face her. "What's wrong?"

She sat down next to him, as he had indicated she should, and shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, biting the inside of her cheek as she considered how to phrase this in a way that would make him least angry. She surveyed his face out the corner of her eye; he didn't look worried, which was good, she supposed… Deciding to just jump in feet first, she turned to face him. "Well, Remus the thing is, I know I'm letting you down, but-"

"Miss Delaire, Lupin, can both of you get up? In fact, everyone go and stand over at the right of the classroom please, I'm going to partner you all of in pairs that you will be working in until Christmas, possibly longer." Slughorn's command interrupted their conversation, and with an apologetic look at Eliza, Remus got up and led them over to join the students gathered at the side of the classroom. They were 6th years so the students were of all 4 houses; 7 Gryffindor students, 3 Hufflepuff, 2 Slytherin and 4 Ravenclaw. Slughorn began pairing them off into partnerships, none of which left students together from the same house. Groaning as she was paired with Lucius Malfoy, who although seemingly bearable was still a Slytherin; Eliza sulked her way across the classroom to the desk at the far back, where Lucius was setting up his things.

She ignored him as she unpacked her equipment and ingredients, rolling her eyes every time he looked at her as if to speak. She watched with amusement as Remus was paired with Oliver, a Hufflepuff who was renowned as the stupidest student in the year. James, Marlene and Lily had unremarkable pairings with Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, but Sirius had the bad luck of getting the other Slytherin student, an insufferable girl called Ania Bahraci. They were all settling down, albeit reluctantly in Eliza and Sirius' case.

She glanced at Lucius and caught him looking at her with a surprised sort of expression on his slim features. "What?" She was being uncharacteristically rude, but she was frustrated that she'd been interrupted before she'd been able to tell Remus that she couldn't come out for full moon, and even more frustrated that she wouldn't be able to sit with her friends in Potions this year- Sirius' jokes had been the only thing stopping her killing Slughorn last year.

He shrugged lightly and averted his eyes to his textbook, "I just assumed that you'd be more open-minded." His voice was a low husky drawl; lazy and unassuming, as if he didn't care whether you listened to what he had to say, but if you did happen to hear him then so be it. "I heard you were very liberal. Therefore, I thought you might give me more of a chance." He laughed lightly, "But clearly that split second decision made by a hat when I was 11 means that I must be an arsehole…" He raised an eyebrow, his bright silver eyes meeting hers.

She frowned, disappointed that she'd managed to be a dick to a Slytherin, then rolled her eyes at herself for thinking something just as judgemental as Malfoy had just proved her to be.

"Sorry." She shrugged and glanced towards Remus. "Slughorn's timing just pissed me off is all."

Lucius laughed softly again, "Yes, I saw you were rather deep in conversation when he decided to burst in and force us into unlikely partnerships."

She smiled, "You could say that."

Ignoring Slughorn's rambling at the front of the class, Malfoy glanced up at the potion name scribbled on the blackboard and flicked through his text book until he found it. With a wave of his wand he lit a fire under his cauldron and then dragged a pile of roots towards him, beginning to dice.

"You could go get the rest of the ingredients from the stock cupboard if you don't mind?" She nodded, surprised by his politeness and when she came back she set about preparing the other ingredients.

He broke the silence to ask her questions about herself and soon she felt she knew him a lot better than she'd ever known another Slytherin. As if reading her mind, he smirked, a much warmer action than his frequent but slightly mirthless laughs, and commented, "So, we Slytherins aren't all bad, are we?"

She grinned and nudged him, causing him to completely ruin the beetle he's been carefully squashing. "Not _so_ bad, no."

"Hey!" He smirked at her, his eyes flashing over hers, a glint of amusement in them making them even more shockingly silver. "Intent on ruining my day, aren't you, Miss Delaire." She grinned and nodded, flicking some of the potion at him, which he dodged with a swing of his slim hips. "Oh absolutely intent on it, yes."

They were grinning at each other, amusement dancing in both of their eyes, when Slughorn broke the moment, busy bodying over to check their potion which he announced to be perfect, giving Eliza an impressed and surprised smile. As he walked away she rolled her eyes at Malfoy and smiled, "Perfect, but not by my doing. You, Malfoy, are a secret genius at potions, are you not?"

He shrugged, "I'm alright, but really you can call me Lucius, can't you? We're going to be working together for a good while now." She nodded and smiled, tapping him on the shoulder, "Of course, as long as you call me Eliza." He laughed, "Oh I'm sure I can think of something much more annoying to nickname you, but for now, Eliza it will be."

She laughed as she started to scribble down the relevant information for their homework assignment. He looked over her shoulder at what she was writing, his hip brushing against hers as she stooped to scoop up her bag. "Well, that homework looks quite reasonable." He glanced over her shoulder, as he opened his mouth to say something else, but when he caught Remus glaring at him from the other side of the classroom he closed his mouth again and turned to start packing his bag. Eliza glanced over her shoulder, but saw nothing- everyone was hard at work or scribbling down the homework, as she had just done. "What were you going to say?" She asked, puzzled. But Lucius just shrugged and swung his bag onto his shoulder, which bore a white handprint from where she'd placed her hand on his shoulder whilst they brewed the potion. She reached out to brush it off, but glancing over her shoulder again, he sidestepped her and brushed it off himself. "Oh, it was nothing, just something about the homework, but I figured it out."

He stepped past the desk and as he started to walk away he gave her once last long piercingly silver look before sweeping from the room, a faint and nonchalant goodbye floating over his shoulder to her. She shrugged at his odd behaviour and wandered over to where Remus, Sirius and James were gathered at the other side of the classroom, waiting for Marlene. Lily had left with her Ravenclaw partner a few minutes ago, deep in conversation about the complicated potions they wished to brew together. Lily was amazing at Potions, while Eliza, Sirius and Marlene held up the shit end of the spectrum quite strongly. Eventually Marlene had finished clearing the tar like potion from the bottom of her cauldron, and they all trooped out. Marlene grabbed Eliza by the elbow and made her walk with her at the back of the group, "So, you managed to get yourself partnered with the gorgeous and mysterious blonde that is Lucius Malfoy, eh?" Marlene winked over-dramatically, "Until Christmas as well, bring on the mistletoe!"

"Marly! Ssh, it's nothing like that… He got all weird on me at the end anyway." She rolled her eyes.

Marlene grinned, "I'm pretty sure that that had something to do with the death glares that Remus spent the whole lesson firing in his direction." She smirked, "You definitely had the hots for him though- I was watching you whilst my boring partner did all the work!"

Eliza grinned wistfully, "Absolutely not… Those eyes though- they rival Worthington's I swear to Merlin!"

As she and Marlene hurried to Charms, their conversation centred around the Malfoy and other hot Slytherins who they dared not admit they fancied to anyone but each other, Eliza couldn't help but dwell on the fact that she still hadn't told Remus about the full moon- a fact that Sirius and James were unlikely to let slide for long. With an inner slap around her own face, she made herself forget that depressing fact, focusing her mind instead on Lucius Malfoy's tight white shirts and silver eyes that she was sure she wouldn't be able to resist for a whole term.


End file.
